


Mirror

by Josselin



Series: Your Majesty [3]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: M/M, murder!Laurent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 15:30:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15246354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josselin/pseuds/Josselin
Summary: It had not escaped Nikandros’s notice that Prince Laurent of Vere could have been Jokaste of Aegina’s twin.





	Mirror

**Author's Note:**

> So....I guess I'm not done with murder!Laurent....here's another fic about him.

It had not escaped Nikandros’s notice that Prince Laurent of Vere could have been Jokaste of Aegina’s twin. It was one of his first observations when he had been presented to Auguste’s younger brother when he and Damen had visited Arles. Laurent even had Jokaste’s look of cool disdain. 

Damen’s tastes were predictable enough, so when Laurent indicated his interest--in a manner far more direct than would have happened in Akielos--it was not surprising to Nikandros that Damen was tempted.

What was slightly surprising was that Damen apparently had not realized this similarity or his own tastes.

Still, Nikandros watched with interest when they arrived back in Ios and Laurent and Jokaste were introduced. Jokaste must have heard of their return with the Prince of Vere; Nikandros had mentioned it in his letter, if nothing else. She and the children came out into the courtyard to greet the riders as they came into the gates, and it wasn’t like the formal entrance they made to Vere, where they had to walk up all of the steps. Instead, Cassiope ran up to them so quickly that Jokaste scolded her for getting too close to the horses, and Jokaste and Leo were not far behind. Damen was riding with Ione and let her squirm down to hug her mother, and the reunion was chaotic and warm and casual. 

Laurent stayed off to the side, watching, and cautiously handing his reins to a palace groom, and after a moment Damen remembered him, and drew him by the arm over to present him to Jokaste. “Lady Jokaste of Aegina, Prince Laurent of Vere.”

It did not escape either Laurent or Jokaste that they could have been twins, either. They both took in the other’s appearance, and then raised a single eyebrow in reaction, even their reactions still a mirror image of each other.

Nikandros smiled. Laurent turned his direction, looking annoyed. “You could have told me,” said Laurent.

“No, it’s really better this way,” said Nikandros.

Damen seemed oblivious, holding Cassiope. Cassiope took in the Prince. “He looks like Mama,” she said.

Damen shook his head, “Oh, not really,” and he presented Cassiope to Laurent, who shook her hand solemnly.

They had been sleeping together before they left Vere, and Laurent had shared Damen and Nikandros’s tent on their return journey, so it was natural enough that they led him to their chambers when he arrived as a visitor in Ios.

Damen wouldn’t have thought to assign Laurent his own guest chambers, or to have told one of the servants to do so. Nikandros ought to have thought of it, he usually considered such things that Damen forgot. But this time, Nikandros forgot also, amidst all of the bustle of their return to Ios. 

Nikandros didn’t realize his oversight until Laurent had already been staying in their chambers for several weeks, the three of them often having sex before bed or falling into bed exhausted to indulge early in the morning before the children might awake. 

The reason Nikandros realized, was that on one particular evening, Jokaste flirted with Damen all through the evening meal, and then after dessert, he retreated with her to her chambers.

That was typical enough that Nikandros would not have thought much of it, except that it left him and Laurent alone in the bedroom, staring at each other across the room.

There was an awkward tension in the air between them, neither of them quite knowing how to navigate this situation of Nikandros’s bedroom and his lover's temporary visitor from Vere.

“We can just sleep,” said Nikandros. That was what he often did when Damen dallied with another lover. He took advantage of the opportunity to stretch out fully on the bed without Damen in the way and slept soundly until either the morning or until Damen returned during the night.

Laurent had been standing near the window overlooking the cliffs. He took a step into the room, closer to Nikandros. “Damen is not just sleeping,” he said.

Nikandros swallowed.

Laurent crossed the room to the small table where the servants kept various bottles of wine and liquor, and took out two glasses, and poured twice.

With one glass in each hand, he came deliberately over to where Nikandros was standing, and sat down near to Nikandros on the settee. He sipped from one glass he was holding, and held the other out deliberately to Nikandros.

Nikandros sat next to him. He accepted the glass.

Nikandros felt awkward. He didn’t usually sleep with other people. He and Damen had an unspoken understanding that Nikandros was only interested in Damen and that Damen had a higher sex drive and liked to sleep with other people. Sometimes they enjoyed inviting a third to their bed, but again, it was understood though not articulated between them that the threesomes were mainly because of Damen’s interest.

He and Damen had never really talked as much as Nikandros would like about their relationship, and similarly, they had not talked much about Laurent. Damen was obviously infatuated, and had invited the Prince to visit them in Akielos with their return, but if Damen and the Prince had discussed their relationship, neither of them had spoken of it to Nikandros.

Since they had never talked about Damen and Laurent or Damen and Nikandros or the three of them all together, it was also true that they had never discussed what might happen if Nikandros and Laurent were alone. It seemed vaguely wrong for them to be alone together, somehow, though there was nothing wrong with how they were enjoying a drink companionably on the settee, and the idea of intimacy with Laurent when Damen wasn’t there seemed even more transgressive, somehow, even though Nikandros could not say why. He tried to think of a reason why intimacy with Laurent would be wrong and he could not come up with any. It was not as though Damen had any grounds to object; Damen would probably be pleased that they were getting along.

Laurent began talking. He spoke Veretian, and Nikandros interrupted him. “You are supposed to be learning Akielon,” he said, which had been an agreement Damen and Laurent had reached during the journey.

Laurent rolled his eyes and began again in Akielon. His accent was hilarious. “Will Damen come back?”

Nikandros looked over at him sharply. Surely he did not think that Damen was finished with them simply because he spent an evening with Jokaste--

But Laurent was not finished. “I mean, this morning,” said Laurent.

“Do you mean, this evening?”

“Oh yes, evening,” Laurent corrected. 

“Perhaps,” said Nikandros. “Jokaste often prefers to sleep alone.”

Laurent seemed pleased by this response, and leaned in closer on the settee. Nikandros told himself again that there was nothing wrong with intimacy with Laurent when Damen was not present.

“Think of what Damen will think,” said Laurent, “When he walks in.” Laurent’s voice was sinuous. “And he sees,” Laurent trailed his fingers along Nikandros’s upper arm, “The wreck we will make of the bed.”

Nikandros imagined it, Damen returning to the bedroom when the candles had burned out to find his lovers in a mess of sheets. He liked this. Laurent had good ideas, though he wasn’t going to tell Laurent that.

Nikandros looked at Laurent, sitting next to him, picturing in his head Laurent in bed next to him when Damen returned later. “Take down your hair,” he said.

Laurent nodded, and unwound the leather tie at the end of his braid. The end of the braid separated, but the rest of it stayed, and Nikandros pulled his fingers through Laurent’s hair gently, freeing it from the braid. Laurent’s hair fell in waves on his shoulders. Nikandros combed his fingers through the freed hair. It was very soft. 

“Mess it up a bit,” said Laurent. Nikandros did.

Laurent began taking off his jacket. “You should,” Laurent said, gesturing to his collarbone, “Leave a mark, on my shoulder.”

Nikandros’s eyes widened. Laurent certainly understood how to affect Damen. Nikandros was uncertain whether he was impressed by Laurent’s manipulativeness or frightened of it. Perhaps both.

Laurent’s jacket dropped to the floor. “Here,” Laurent gestured on himself.

Nikandros leaned in toward Laurent, thinking, is this really happening? Am I truly doing this? And instead of putting his lips to Laurent’s shoulder, as Laurent seemed to expect, he kissed Laurent.

Laurent made a slightly surprised noise, but then he kissed back. Laurent had such an innocent way of kissing, it was incongruent with his manipulative ideas about Nikandros giving him a hickey to make Damen jealous, but Nikandros kind of liked it.

After he was satisfied with kissing Laurent for a moment, he bent his head to place his lips on Laurent’s shoulder.

Laurent craned his head to see Nikandros’s work. The angle for him was wrong. “Find me a pane,” he said.

“I think you mean a mirror,” said Nikandros, applying his lips again.

“For seeing myself,” said Laurent.

“Yes, the word is mirror,” said Nikandros. 

“Bite a little lower,” said Laurent, “Over here.”

“Perhaps you’d prefer to do this yourself,” said Nikandros. 

Eventually Nikandros tired of Laurent’s directions and threaded his hands through Laurent’s hair and kissed him again. It was nice to kiss him because he couldn’t talk while they were kissing. Also it was more familiar. When they were kissing, it felt to Nikandros like they might all be together in the bed with Damen, and Damen might be lying just beyond Laurent or something. 

The position on the settee was not very comfortable, so they moved to the bed. The bed smelled of Damen, which again gave Nikandros the thought that Damen was there with them. Nikandros kind of understood, in bed with Laurent, why they usually put Laurent in between them in the bed, and why Damen was always pressing Laurent’s hands into the bedding, because Laurent kept squirming. His movements were small but demanding, as though he were wanting something he could not put to words, and so Nikandros rolled on top of him. Laurent settled, as though he liked that. He probably did, Nikandros decided. 

Nikandros kissed Laurent again, who was settled beneath him now in the bed, and began thinking again about where this was going. Were they just messing up the bed, or were they trying to get off? He had never messed around like this with Laurent when they were alone, and he rarely even did as much with Laurent when Damen was there. Nikandros had never fucked Laurent, though he had kissed Laurent while Damen had done so.

Nikandros began to think that they should have a conversation about this. Damen was poor at talking; Nikandros sometimes had to hunt him down and force him to put things into words. Laurent seemed to start drinking at any hint of serious conversation, so it fell to Nikandros again to use words. He said, “Where do you want this to go?” thinking to himself that that was a nice, neutral way to ask what Laurent was thinking. It was open-ended, without implications.

Laurent replied in Veretian, giving up on Akielon for the night. Nikandros opened his mouth to rebuke him again, except Laurent’s words distracted him. 

“I want,” said Laurent, and there was definite conviction in his voice, “I want for you to fuck me. But do not finish. Then, pull out, and finish on my back--”

Nikandros’s eyes were wide and Laurent was still speaking.

“--Then Damen will come in,” said Laurent. “So he can see how open I am, and how your seed is glistening on my skin--”

“Veretians are filthy,” said Nikandros, impressed.

“It’s a good plan,” said Laurent. Nikandros wasn’t willing to say out loud that he agreed, but he reached for the oil. 

Nikandros opened Laurent up with his fingers until Laurent was squirming again, and then Laurent rolled on to his stomach and said, “Come on,” and Nikandros moved over him and pressed into him slowly. It was a good position. The position allowed Nikandros to put some weight on Laurent, which Laurent clearly liked, and it also let Nikandros put his mouth on Laurent’s shoulder again, and he worked on another mark.

As they were fucking, both of them were kind of lost in the act. Laurent came first, arching, and then Nikandros lost track of the plan and ended up finishing inside Laurent. It didn’t matter, though, because Damen did not follow Laurent’s plan and did not interrupt them as they were finishing in any case. Nikandros rested next to Laurent, afterward.

When his breath had slowed, Nikandros thought again that they should talk. “I liked that.”

“I guessed,” said Laurent.

Nikandros rolled his eyes. He was trying to be serious and Laurent was not cooperating. So he leaned in and tried to pretend-bite Laurent again on his shoulder.

Laurent laughed, and pushed him away, and Nikandros laughed also and leaned in again, and they were mock wrestling and giggling like children.

That was when Damen returned. 

Nikandros saw the room for a moment as Damen must see it. The bed was a complete wreck. Laurent’s hair was a tangled mess of gold. Laurent was covered in love bites. The oil had spilled next to the bed. His lovers were twined together on the bed laughing and fake biting each other.

“What is going on?” said Damen, smiling.

“Nikandros is not good at following the plan,” said Laurent, smiling at Damen’s arrival. Nikandros took advantage of Laurent’s distraction looking Damen’s direction to lean in and bite him successfully and Laurent kind of squealed. 

The next day, as the council adjourned, Laurent leaned over Nikandros’s chair. “I do not think,” he said into Nikandros’s ear, “That Damen will be interested in Jokaste tonight.”

Nikandros did not say anything, but he thought Laurent was probably right.

**Author's Note:**

> [Reblog on tumblr!](http://josselinkohl.tumblr.com/post/175763738787/more-murderlaurent)


End file.
